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Fri, 16 Feb 2007 |
| Notice Me / Amanda Mason | |
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Notice Me? You're kidding, right?
(Another reminder, as if I needed it, of the inherent unfairness of the universe.) |
| [ Category: Pop | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 14 Feb 2007 |
| Live! / Nina | |
|
A while back I
mentioned hearing a Singaporean C&W band that
sounded anything but Singaporean. I guess it still surprises me to
learn yet again that local pop stars don't always sound particularly
local. That's the case with Nina, who covers mostly R&B in a
straightforward way and who is, I was surprised to discover, not
American, despite her lack of an accent. (Americans, you see, are the
only people on Earth who are totally without an accent. Except
Southerners, of course. And New Englanders. And New Yawkers, with
the exception of yours truly. But I
digress.)
Turns out Nina's from the Philippines, which would explain why she's on the Warner Brothers Philippines label. But unless I'm missing something (and what are the odds of that?), there's nothing in her performance that would give her origins away. Which makes me wonder what her local fans think of that, if they prefer her exotic non-Filipina style. Guess it's all in your point of view. |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 12 Feb 2007 |
| Daughtry / Daughtry | |
|
I have never seen an episode of
American
Idol, which will
either give me tremendous credibility as a music reviewer or
demonstrate that I in fact deserve none at all. My own opinion of the
show, which derives largely from what I read on blogs and see in the
carefully selected clips that appear on
The
Soup, which I do
watch regularly, is therefore as uninformed as it is heartfelt. I'm
not into reality TV, whether because it reflects reality too well or
not at all I'll lead you to decide. Suffice it to say that I don't
enjoy embarrassment, whether mine own or somebody else's. It's like
fingernails on the blackboard of my soul.
I mention all this to explain why I've never before reviewed anything by an Idol contestant, at least not knowingly. I'm coming at this second release by Chris Daughtry (actually by a band called Daughtry fronted by Daughtry) knowing nothing more than what I learned from the review on the iTunes Store: that he's humorless, takes himself way too seriously and approaches every song in pretty much the same all-out style. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good description of me. |
| [ Category: Pop | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 05 Feb 2007 |
| Alright, Still / Lily Allen | |
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Here's a question: Is Lily Allen mean and vindictive |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 01 Jan 2007 |
| You Can't Make Everybody Like You / Sara Radle | |
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Not to disagree with the title, but likable is exactly the way I'd
describe Sara Radle's singing, and her songwriting for that matter.
Besides, how can you not want to like somebody whose band was called
Lucy
Loves Schroeder? Not so sure about Fred Savage Fan
Club, though; for me he hit his peak in
The Princess
Bride. But I digress.
And speaking of digressions, my first Google search added an H to her name and came up with a nun in Salt Lake City. Who may have her own album; it's happened before. But my advice is to accept no substitutes. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 13 Dec 2006 |
| Everything's Fine / Alice Ripley | |
|
Being a big fan of live theater, including the musical kind, I have a pretty good collection of both cast albums and individual recordings by performers who particularly impressed me. Those latter albums tend to be hit or miss for me; I enjoy the performers but am not always crazy about their choice of material. Everything's Fine is a surprise in that regard. Rather than a collection of Broadway standards or piano bar stuff, Ms. Ripley has recorded her own creations. And even her performance is rather a surprise; it doesn't shout Broadway, if you know what I mean. In fact, hearing her for the first time (well, the second; I didn't recognize her from her role in The Who's Tommy), the idea that she was a stage performer never had the thought of becoming an inkling in my mind. And that's a good thing, although I'd be glad of the chance to see and hear her on the stage again. Especially now that I know what I'm looking and listening for. |
| [ Category: Pop | 2 comments | Link ] | |
Fri, 10 Nov 2006 |
| Maybe I Can Change / Sarah Olson | |
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Nope. I wouldn't change a thing. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 01 Nov 2006 |
| Born in the U.K. / Badly Drawn Boy | |
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Born in the U.K. is a period piece, an effort to evoke the writer/performer's growing up years in 70s and 80s Britain. There's a lush quality to many of the tracks that reminds me of the Broadway version of The Who's Tommy, especially the Up With People cultish sound of Welcome to the Overground. But somehow he survived the experience. And so, I can only hope, did you. |
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Wed, 25 Oct 2006 |
| Live / Barry Manilow | |
| Okay, here's the thing: after more than 350 posts or reviews or whatever it is I've been doing on this blog, I've either developed some credibility with you, my esteemed reader, or you're just enjoying me demonstrating whatever lack of taste you've gleaned from all these words. What I'm getting at is that either way, I've earned the right to admit that I liked Barry Manilow back in the day, and I still do. I like his ballads; I still get misty listening to Weekend In New England and remembering a not-relationship I once believed had a chance. I like his upbeat numbers, even if nothing in my life quite measures up to the cheer and optimism of It's a Miracle. And I especially like his self-deprecating sense of humor, as evidenced in his Very Strange Medley of commercial hits. I know it's uncool to like Barry Manilow, or to ever have liked him. Then again, when was I ever cool? |
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| [ Category: Pop | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 18 Oct 2006 |
| The Crane Wife / The Decemberists | |
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I'm having trouble writing this one. What I like about The Crane
Wife in particular and The Decemberists in general is
that there's a strangeness to their music and yet a familiarity;
they're unsettling and accessible at the same time. Easy to listen to
and yet often surprising and challenging. Soothing but never
threatening to fall into the background.
Maybe you're better off just giving them a listen and see if you're any more articulate on the subject. I'm not willing to bet either way. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 11 Oct 2006 |
| All the Hits Plus More / The Allisons | |
| Can you be nostalgic for something you've never actually experienced before? I ask because even a few seconds listening to The Allisons (who are neither related nor named Allison) brought me back to a time somewhere between the womb and my first transistor radio. I'm not quite old enough to have first hand knowledge of early Sixties pop, especially British pop, especially the Eurovision Song Contest of 1961, when these guys had their brief moment in the sun. And the tracks I recognize are courtesy of other artists: Hello Mary Lou from Ricky Nelson, It Doesn't Matter Anymore from Buddy Holly (and others) to name just two. But there's something wonderfully time capsuly about the renditions of these brothers who weren't brothers. Maybe not everything about the early 60s sucked. |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 09 Oct 2006 |
| 100% Pure New Zealand Music / Louis Bernstone | |
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I hope you won't be too shocked, but I'm about to reveal a deep-seated
prejudice. It's about New Zealand. Yeah, I know; nice people don't
talk about these things.
But it's true. After spending a month there a couple of years ago I've become hopelessly hooked on the place and everything about it; irreversably contaminated, one might say. Which is a Farscape reference. And that's a whole different country, although one that's nearby. And one that supplied two of the show's leads. Which is all irrelevant to the fact that I kind of knew I'd like Louis Bernstone's album even before I heard it. The name was enough. And there's an object lesson here: sometimes your prejudices are right. Not often. But sometimes. Like now, for example. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 06 Oct 2006 |
| Duets - An American Classic / Tony Bennett | |
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Tony, you're no
Frank.
After all, if
the
video that comes with this album is to be believed, you were
actually in the same city as your collaborators, the same room even.
Don't they know you're too busy to actually sing duets, even if it's
in the name?
Then again, I always imagined you as nicer and more down to earth than Mr. Sinatra. Thanks for not spoiling my illusions. Especially when I have so few left. |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Wed, 04 Oct 2006 |
| Control Freak / Jennifer Spalding | |
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Jennifer, did we ever work together? 'Cuz I gotta say,
your
title track could easily have been written about a few of my
former managers. Especially the most recent one. Not my
current manager, mind; he knows better than to even try.
Wait, what were we talking about? |
| [ Category: Pop | 1 comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 28 Aug 2006 |
| Blue On Blue / Leigh Nash | |
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Leigh Nash is the former lead vocalist for Sixpence None The Richer, which may be all I need to say. As a soloist, Ms. Nash presents everything I liked about her former band and nothing I didn't. Sometimes less really is more. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 04 Aug 2006 |
| I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker / Sandi Thom | |
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I dare you to listen to I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) and not smile; there's something cheerfully minimalist about it that's irresistable. I can't wait for the album to come out. I mean, as if this one song wasn't enough, an album title like Smile... It Confuses People tells me she's my kind of people. Or I'm hers. Whatever. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 17 Jul 2006 |
| Stars Are Blind / Paris Hilton | |
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Stars Are Blind. They're also deaf. Lucky them. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 10 Jul 2006 |
| Words Came Back To Me / Sonya Kitchell | |
| Wow. Just wow. At seventeen, Sonya Kitchell's singing and songwriting demonstrate a level of maturity I'll never achieve. As a blues (or jazz or folk or...) artist she's not merely a teen sensation. She's a sensation, period. |
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| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Fri, 07 Jul 2006 |
| Here's My Song / Nicolai Dunger | |
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I'm trying to figure out why Nicolai Dunger sounds so familiar. And I'm failing completely; even as I feel like I recognize his vocals or his guitar work (but never at the same time) I know I'm listening to someone new. Granted that I'm only casually connected into the Swedish music scene, but I'd never have placed him among either the pop or the alternative players from that part of the world. He's an original. Or I'm just ignorant; either is a possibility. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
Mon, 19 Jun 2006 |
| Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 / Shakira | |
|
Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 is the flip side of Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, an all-Spanish release from a year ago. (Do people still know what "flip side" means, now that the 45 is history?) Vol. 2 represents more than just a change of language; it's an attempt to move more into the mainstream of pop, or at least what we monolingual Americans think of pop. I'd call it a qualified success; the tracks are kind of uneven but generally very listenable. Although I'm of the opinion that Hips Don't Lie owes its musical bite more to Wyclef Jean, even as the video belongs to Shakira. Still, an impressive transition, and one that makes me more interested in sampling her Latin side. |
| [ Category: Pop | Add a comment | Link ] | |
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